


The Cure For What Ails You

by sprucewoodcottage (ironmermaidens)



Series: vEX [2]
Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Cats, Found Family, Gen, Hermitcraft season 6, Sickfic, vex!ex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 05:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20808932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironmermaidens/pseuds/sprucewoodcottage
Summary: Evil X worries himself sick about his place with the convex.





	The Cure For What Ails You

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fever Bright Star Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22566202) by [RemainingQuestions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RemainingQuestions/pseuds/RemainingQuestions). 

When the thunder echoes off the walls of Evil X's cave, he follows it. He stands under the fat raindrops and tries to feel the Vex through them, to hear their laughter on the roar and rumble. More often than not, the only thing he feels is a chill. He sits outside on the cold, stone cliff even on nights where the stars light up the sky, waiting for the Vex, and he shivers. 

Sometimes he brings his mask with him and turns it over in his hands, sorely tempted to bring it to his face and feel the rush of magic that will follow, but something holds him back. He doesn't know if that's the influence of the Vex, or of something else. A fear within him that grows with every passing day he doesn't feel the call of the Vex. Is he a fool for trusting them, or simply impatient? 

He could ask Scar and Cub, but he doesn't think they've built the kind of rapport necessary to show up unannounced on either of their doorsteps. He's fairly certain Cub is still annoyed with him for the last time he snuck onto ConCorp grounds. Although he has as much a right to those grounds as his fellow convex do now, doesn't he?

Evil X's eyelids feel heavy and he sees the sky turn pink with the rising sun. He hadn't meant to stay up this long. He hadn't meant to the night before, either. He doesn't want to sleep, but something calls to him, draws him back to the warm comfort of his bed, and he lets it tuck him in beneath the covers. For just a few hours, he rests. 

He feels worse when he awakens than he did when he fell asleep. His head aches as if someone had put him inside a bell while he slept and struck it repeatedly with a shovel. He presses his fingers to the bottom of his eye sockets, rubs at them like he might be able to rub the pain away, but if anything it just feels as if he's squeezed it into his temples and sinuses instead. Evil X is no expert, but he's fairly certain that this was not a usual side effect of sleep. 

When he stands, nausea roils in his stomach. He still feels entirely too exhausted. His face is hot, his whole body is hot. His lungs and throat burn and he swallows against the urge to cough. Evil X tallies it all up and just as quickly he ignores the diagnosis, ignores the implication of what his symptoms combined point towards, because he is _ not _ getting sick. He doesn't _ get _ sick. 

Evil X presses his palms into his eye sockets again and takes a deep breath. If anything, it makes his stomach churn more. He thinks he should eat something, even as his stomach protests the idea. Eating helps, he argues back. He considers his options, the steak and potatoes and apples he has here in his cave. His stomach rejects them all. Xisuma would tell him that mushroom soup would be best, and this time he and his stomach are in agreement. Something whispers _ cake _ into his ears, and his stomach is reluctantly silent. 

Evil X sighs. "Fine. Cake it is."

__

Evil X gets as far as pulling his elytra from its chest before exhaustion overtakes him and he sulks to his nether portal instead. As expected, it does no favors for his nausea. He takes a moment to catch his breath once he's through, and in that moment the heat he finds himself surrounded by finally hits him, knocking the air back out of his lungs in a string of hacking coughs. He has half a mind to turn back around then and there, but a familiar presence brushes against his cheek, urges him towards the nether hub, towards sorely needed food.

He trudges stiffly on, one arm wrapped around his middle as if to hold his guts still and the other wiping sweat from his brow—sweat he tells himself is only there because he's in the nether, no other reason than that. He loses track of how many times he has to stop and hold his breath until the churning in his belly calms down. He gives up on his battle against the sweat beading on his skin. 

Evil X nearly cries in relief when he finally reaches the hub. If he wasn't positive he'd throw up from the effort, he'd sprint for the shopping district portal. Instead he settles for a brisk walking pace. Even that is nearly too much for him. When he passes through back into the overworld he steps out of the swirling purple and immediately presses his back against the cool, obsidian frame, taking another deep breath against the bile rising in his throat. He tries not to think about the fact that he'll have to go back through the nether to get home again. 

The path to the bakery is an easy one for his feet to follow. It's one he's tread often enough that he hardly needs to think about it. He can focus instead on keeping his feet moving forward through his aching muscles and exhaustion, exhaustion that had only multiplied during his trip into the nether. His head throbs even more now, the pulses matching the rhythm of his heartbeat in a way that makes the churning of his stomach go from small eddies to an absolute maelstrom. By the time he reaches the bakery, Evil X isn't sure he'll actually be able to keep anything down. He's starting to think that getting out of bed at all had been a mistake. 

Still, he's come this far. He'll be damned if he doesn't at least try to eat something. 

Evil X picks a cake and takes a slice, then sits himself on the floor, back against the wall. He still feels entirely too hot, as if he were still standing next to a pool of lava in the nether rather than in a shop in the overworld, but the cool surface of the bakery walls feels good against his skin. He takes a moment to simply enjoy the way it feels, the way it seems to sooth the aches in his muscles and his head, and closes his eyes. Just for a moment, just to get his barring and let his stomach settle before he attempts to eat, he tells himself.

Just for a moment. 

__

"Evil X?"

Evil X shivers and curls in on himself. The tiny movement sends bile into his throat and he groans miserably, hugging his middle and swallowing the bile back. Something brushes his hair away from his forehead, and a cool hand is pressed to his skin. He blinks his eyes open then, and it takes a moment for his blurry gaze to register the two masked figures kneeling before him in the evening light.

"He's really burning up," the one with his hand to Evil X's forehead says in Cub's voice. 

"'m fine..." Evil X mumbles and pushes Cub's hand away. He's still in the bakery, laying on the tile ground. When had he fallen asleep? He swears he'd only closed his eyes for a minute. His cheeks heat in embarrassment and he sits up on one shaky elbow. The second masked figure reaches out to steady him, and Evil X can only muster up a low grunt of protest.

"What are you doing here, Evil X?" Scar's voice asks from beneath the mask.

His throat feels too swollen to form words, but he manages to get a quiet, "cake," out. He can't help another shiver and wonders when he went from being too hot to too cold. The convex share a look that he can't decipher from beneath their masks. 

"...'m fine," Evil X repeats, and pushes himself the rest of the way upright. Then he presses a fist against his lips, holding back the vomit that threatens to come up along with him. He squeezes his eyes shut, and he feels Scar's hand tighten on his shoulder. He wants to shake him off, but when he gags again thinks better of it. Another shiver wracks his body, and he wishes he was home wrapped in the warmth of his blankets. Why had he fallen asleep here? Cub and Scar must think him awfully stupid. 

A weight drapes itself over Evil X's shoulders and he tenses in surprise. He blinks his eyes open, turning his head to see a lab coat, Cub's lab coat he realizes when the other man begins smoothing the fabric over his shoulders, the sleeves of his button down visible without the coat to obscure them. "We need to get you home. You need rest."

"'m fine," Evil X says again. He's not sure how many times he has to say it before they'll believe him. So he's a little tired. So he fell asleep before he could even touch his cake. So his head throbs and his throat is constricted and he feels like he's going to throw up every time he moves. So what? 

The convex share another look that makes Evil X's face burn shamefully. After a moment of silent, unseen conversation, they turn their masked gazes back to him, and Cub speaks. "Can you stand up, Evil Xisuma?"

_ Stop being so prideful and let them help you. _ A voice in the back of his mind whispers. He's not sure whether it's his own or not. He shakes it from his mind and leans forward, pressing his palms against the floor to push himself up. It takes all his strength to get his feet under him, to keep himself from toppling onto his head as he stands. The convex stand with him, Cub grabbing onto the lapels of his lab coat to keep it from sliding off of Evil X's shoulders. Evil X can't help but pull it tighter around himself, soaking in the minuscule amount of additional heat it provides. 

The convex watch him, and Evil X glares back. He ignores the way the movement throws him off balance and makes him sway. When he speaks, his voice is low and raspy, and he has to suppress a cough. "I can walk there myself. You can leave now."

"No offense Evil X, but we're not going to let you go anywhere by yourself right now," Scar says, and Evil X turns the full force of his glare on him. Scar would normally have squirmed under Evil X's harsh look, but with the power of the vex backing him in this moment, he simply raises his chin defiantly. "You're barely keeping yourself on your feet!"

"I'm _ fine_," Evil X says, enunciating it clearly this time, as if that will make any difference now that Scar's got it in his head to help. 

"Alright," Cub says. "Alright, you can walk yourself. But we're coming with you."

"Fine. Whatever." Evil X says, rolling his eyes. He turns towards the doorway and takes a step, pursing his lips and letting his breath out through his nose as he feels his stomach begin to churn again. He keeps walking before either of them can comment. 

His lungs burn in protest almost as loudly as his aching muscles. He keeps walking, and pays no mind to how close or far the convex follow. His eyes sting with the effort of keeping himself from coughing. He blinks back his tears and tries to focus on keeping his feet moving in a straight line. His foot drags along the dirt path just a little too much and he collapses, barely a shop over from the bakery. 

Evil X yelps and every cough he'd kept suppressed escapes him all at once, leaving him hopelessly breathless. He slaps a hand over his mouth as if that will stop the way his lungs spasm and sucks in air through his nose until the feeling of acid in his throat finally passes. He becomes aware of a hand on his back, rubbing it gently, and he growls weakly in protest. The hand isn't removed. A part of him feels warmed that it isn't. 

"Fine," he croaks. "_ Fine_. I need help."

"There's no shame in that, Evil Xisuma," Cub says, stepping in front of Evil X and offering him a hand up. Evil X sighs and takes it, bonelessly lets Cub pull him back to his feet, Scar's hands on his shoulders keeping him steady even as his stomach lurches at the change in altitude. Then, to his surprise, Cub lets go of his hand and turns around. "Alright. Climb aboard."

Evil X stares for a moment, before he finally realizes what it is Cub wants him to do. He groans. 

"C'mon now. We don't have all day." Cub says, and he's right. The last bit of light from the sun was quickly being swallowed by the horizon and the cool, night air makes Evil X shiver even with Cub's lab coat to blanket him. Evil X sighs again, and reluctantly reaches his hands out to hold onto Cub's shoulders as Scar helps him up. Cub's arms loop under his knees, and Evil X wraps his own arms around Cub's neck, securing him to Cub's back like a baby koala.

"This is humiliating," Evil X grumbles. 

"I think it's cute," Scar says cheerfully. Evil X drops his face onto Cub's shoulder to hide the embarrassed blush that creeps across his cheeks. He hears Scar giggle and it only makes his cheeks redder. He wonders whether the convex would believe him if he blamed it on the fever. 

"Quit teasing him, Scar," Cub says as he starts walking. Evil X tightens his grip for just a moment, then relaxes when he determines he's not about to fall off of Cub's back. "He's too sick to defend himself."

"Am not," Evil X protests weakly. He doesn't sound very convincing. Mercifully, neither of them comment. 

Evil X lets himself relax, turning his head so his cheek rests on Cub's shoulder now, his eyes drifting closed after a moment. He doesn't want to admit it, but the gentle rhythm of Cub's footsteps is comforting. He feels like he's being rocked to sleep. He's sure it's just a side effect of his exhaustion, that under normal circumstances he wouldn't be so eager to lower his guard. 

Some quiet part of his mind shushes him. Tells him not to worry so much. For once, he listens to it. 

__

Evil X opens his eyes to a room he doesn't recognize. He's in an unfamiliar bed under an unfamiliar blanket. It takes a moment for his mind to catch up with his eyes, and once it does he realizes he must be at ConCorp. The room stinks of Cub's decorative sensibilities with blue banners and expensive furnishings laid about the room in a way that the wealthy might call tasteful. If he strains he can hear Cub and Scar in another room. 

He considers getting up, but he feels cozy under the plush blanket. It's warm and soft and he can almost forget the reason he's even here when he's in its embrace. Yet being in such a luxurious room makes him feel like he's stealing from Cub and Scar, somehow. Hadn't Cub said they were going to take him home? What was he doing here?

His thoughts are interrupted by the door swinging open and Scar entering the room, a steaming bowl held in one hand and a number of bottles pressed between his arm and his chest. He smiles when he sees Evil X. "Oh, good, you're awake!"

Scar pads over to the bedside, careful not to spill the bowl of what Evil X imagines must be some sort of terrible, healthy soup that Scar intends for him to eat. Scar sets the bowl down on the bedside table, then the bottles until his arms are finally free. 

"Cub brewed up a few potions that should help you recover a little more quickly," Scar says. "We're pretty sure you have the flu."

"'m not sick," Evil X says. 

Scar gives him a flat look. "The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks."

Evil X groans and settles himself further under the blanket, glancing at the bottles and the bowl on the table. "'m not hungry, either."

"Okay _ not hungry, _ how about you _ not eat _ this soup I slaved over for you?" Scar laughs. "Seriously, this was pretty hard to make. You should at least try a bite before you reject it."

Evil X lets out another drawn out groan that only peters out when a fit of coughing takes its place. It does nothing to make his stomach feel any more ready for food, but when his lungs feel stable enough to speak again he says, "Fine."

Evil X sits up, pulling the blanket up and around his shoulders until he's wrapped in it like a cocoon. He sticks his arms out enough to pick the bowl of soup up and brings it close.

"Hope you like chicken noodle," Scar says with a smile. Evil X is just happy there isn't a mushroom in sight. He brings a spoonful to his mouth, and is pleasantly surprised when swallowing it doesn't make him feel like throwing up. "See? Not so bad, is it?"

"It's fine, I guess," Evil X says as he ladles another spoonful into his mouth. He only manages a few more bites before his stomach begins to protest. He holds the bowl out for Scar to take, and as soon as his hands are free he hunches in on himself under the blanket. "Why'd you bring me here?"

"Uh. So we could keep an eye on you while you recover?" Scar says as he sets the bowl aside, grabbing one of the bottles off the table next. He pops the cork out and offers it to Evil X. "Where else would we do that at?"

"Thought you were gonna take me home," Evil X says, taking the bottle from Scar. He takes a tentative sip and recognizes the heat of a strength potion. He tips the bottle back further, swallowing the potion down and letting its warmth spread throughout his muscles. It's a little overwhelming, to have the heat of the potion inside him with the heat of the blanket over him. He lets the blanket drop off his shoulders before he starts sweating again. 

Scar gives him a puzzled look. "We _ are _ home."

Evil X tilts his head questioningly at that. 

"ConCorp is your home too, Evil X."

"Oh," Evil X says. His stomach squirms in a way wholly unrelated to his nausea. He offers the now empty bottle back to Scar, who takes it and sets it beside the bowl on the table. "...How did you know where I was?"

Scar picks up the next bottle, uncorking it for Evil X as he had the last. "The vex called on us. They don't usually have us operate during the daylight, so we were a little confused, but we obeyed and when we went where they directed... Well. We found you." 

"Oh," Evil X says again. He takes the second bottle from Scar and swigs it down without taking a test sip to see what it is first. It's salty like a regeneration potion. The vex sent Scar and Cub after him. The vex cared for him. It's a lot to wrap his mind around. His throat feels constricted, and not because of his illness. He feels like he needs to lay down again. He hands the second bottle back to Scar.

"Last one," Scar says as he picks up the final bottle, pulling the cork out and handing it to Evil X. He takes it without protest, tips it back and tastes the citrus of fire resistance slide past his tongue. Scar takes the empty bottle and sets it with the others. 

He watches Evil X for a moment, his eyes piercing, like he's looking right into Evil X's soul. Evil X grimaces and glances away. "It's okay to need help, Evil X. You know that, right?"

Evil X squirms and shrugs. It was okay for some people to need help, but he was far from one of them. The idea that the vex cared enough for him to send Scar and Cub looking for him was still too abstract for him to understand. 

"It is," Scar insists. "You're convex now. You can always count on me and Cub to have your back."

Evil X glances up at Scar again. His face is earnest, sincere. Evil X wants so badly to believe him.

"You're just saying that because you have to," Evil X says.

"I'm not," Scar says. His voice is hot with the same conviction that burns in his eyes. "You _ can _ count on us, Evil X. I mean it. We're a team. A _ family_. And you're part of it, too."

Evil X isn't sure what to say to that. A family. Imagine that. His eyes sting at the very thought. He still feels the warmth of the strength potion in his veins, but he pulls his blanket back over his shoulders anyway, hides himself away under it from Scar's gaze. He surreptitiously wipes at his eyes.

He feels a weight through the plush blanket, approximately where his shoulder is. "You should get some more rest. I'll check on you again in a couple hours, okay?"

Evil X nods. Rest didn't sound like such a bad idea.

__

A weight settles on the bed beside Evil X, so slight he almost doesn't notice it. Soft voices across the room seem to quiet even further, and for a moment Evil X begins to drift back to sleep. Something cold and wet touches his forehead. Then a rough tongue licks him where the small nose had sniffed. Evil X opens his eyes a crack, and is greeted by grey and white fur. 

_ Scar's cat, _ his mind supplies. _ Jellie_. 

He reaches a hand out from under the blanket and strokes a single finger along her fur. Jellie turns to sniff at his finger now, then rubs her cheek against it. She purrs. 

"I think she likes him," he hears Scar say with quiet glee. 

"It would appear so," Cub agrees. 

Evil X wants to make some snappy remark, but his mind is still too sluggish to come up with anything. Instead, he continues to pet Jellie silently, enjoying her purring and her paws kneading the blanket beside him. She turns around twice on the blanket before plopping down on top of it, pressed up against his belly. He can feel her purring, and can feel her little paws still gently plucking at the blanket in contentment. He feels content too. 

He pulls his hand back under the blanket and closes his eyes, relaxes with the comforting presence of Jellie beside him. He feels a rumble building in his chest, something he hasn't done in years. Longer, maybe. He hadn't had a reason to. But now, under the plush blanket in this cozy bed at ConCorp, watched over by his fellow convex, cuddling with Jellie, he purrs. 

"Uh..." Scar starts. Evil X can't help but smile minutely. "That's... not Jellie doing that."

There's silence from the convex for a moment before Scar says, "Did you know he could do that?"

He can picture Cub shaking his head as he says, "No idea."

"Hm." Scar hums. "At least he's not speaking in tongues."

"Are you ever going to let me live that down?"

Scar giggles, and the sound of it makes Evil X purr even harder.

__

He feels a cold hand against his forehead and he groans in protest. The small lump that was Jellie had relocated at some point while he was asleep to the space behind his knees. 

"Your fever's gone down. That's good. Looks like the potions are working." Cub says, finally pulling his hand away from Evil X's forehead.

Evil X blinks open his eyes. He still feels far from a hundred percent, but he can say with certainty that he isn't nearly as exhausted as he had been when he first woke up sick. Even his stomach feels more settled. 

"How are you feeling?" Cub asks.

"Better," Evil X admits. He shifts a little, testing to see if he can sit up without disturbing Jellie. She _ mmrps _ at him and he decides not to push his luck. Cub seems to sense this and sits down in the chair beside the bed. Evil X doesn't have to crane his neck to see Cub from here. "Not great, but better."

Cub smiles. "You'll get there. And we'll be here for you until you do."

Evil X considers Cub's words. He considers what Scar told him earlier, too.

"What about after?" He asks quietly.

Cub considers Evil X back. The soft smile he wears behind his beard never wavers. "We'll be here then, too."

Evil X nods ever so slightly. "We're... a family?"

"Convex looks out for convex, Evil X," Cub says. "We're a family."

Jellie stretches from her place behind Evil X's knees. Evil X lets the tiniest smile form on his lips. "...Okay."

**Author's Note:**

> I highly recommend that you read Fever Bright Star Light by RemainingQuestions, if you haven't already. Not only is it an excellent fic that directly inspired me to write this one (that and all his other amazing fics about the convex), but I even wrote a little reference to it in here. c: Did you happen to see where?


End file.
